We have talked white balance in the past and have reviewed different products that help you get a good white balance setting. A new product has hit the streets that does the same thing, and since the Dojo is all about helping you to improve your images and doing so at a decent price, we needed to take a look at the new Colorright disc. So let’s take a quick look at why we need white balance and if the Colorright disc is worth the cost.
Announcing a new program that will award 100 photographers worldwide a Westcott accreditation of being named Top 100 Westcott Endorsed Pros.
Be recognized as the professional that you are.
Winners will be accredited and may attach the official logo to their name, work, print materials and web site for a period of one year. All winner‘s will have a page dedicated to them in our online gallery, which includes their images, seminar dates, workshops and educational materials. Winners’ images may potentially be used for promotional pieces such as full-page advertisements and posters. In addition, winners will receive free tickets to seminars, trade shows, workshops and be eligible for product discounts!
To enter the contest, put together your best work and head over to:
http://www.fjwestcott.com/contests.htm
If you are into using gels or have wanted to experiment with it, one of the problems is finding good quality and affordable gel sets. While you can always try to get a free sample kit, the gels are small and have a hold in them. What would be almost perfect would be some pre-cut sheets with velcro straps attached. What a brilliant idea if someone did something like that right? Well wait no longer. HonlPhoto has created a killer gel kit that contains all of the common gels you would normally want. Priced at $24.95, this is the ultimate gel starting kit. More information is after the break.
I am a big fan of doing interesting lighting techniques and have been playing around with using gels to create colored background effects. While using small gels can work pretty good, I have been looking for something that works better, isn’t as fragile, and basically was designed for the purpose. What I found was the Lumiquest FX kit. The FX is a complete colored filter system designed specifically to create colored lighting effects.
Today is one of those days that I wanted to take a step back to some basics again. This time I want to talk about the three primary properties of light, and since what we are doing as photographers is recording light, it is important to know how these properties play into getting a good image. While I had studied this before, attending a recent seminar from Ed Pierce made me realize that many reader may never have seen these concepts before.
If you want to progress in your art you should really consider taking a workshop once in a while. Since I haven’t been able to attend one in a while I was thrilled that Ed Piece’s Captivated by the Light workshop was coming to my town. Be sure and check it out if it is coming to your area. Ed is a master of light and technique. He shows you have to light a subject properly for the most flattering angles.
The seminar itself is almost 4 hours long and the price includes a DVD with another four hours of training on it. At $49.00 this is one of the best deals around. Based on some of the things we learned there, watch for some upcoming tutorials on lighting and angles to help flatter your subjects.
Seminar information: Captivated by the Light workshop
The home studio has been making amazing progress lately and we did some major work on it today to get it ready for it’s first test shoot. The final width comes in at twelve feet and the shooting area is fifteen feet from the main shooting wall. The back wall was painted with gloss white for high key background that will mostly be used during product shots. For other types of shots a background support is in place with a ten foot wide white seamless paper roll on it.
Was it as simple as cleaning out the garage and painting the walls? Absolutely not, continue reading to see what else we did to put some finishing touches on the studio.
